Buildings
Buildings are the economic infrastructure of Pardus. The majority of them are owned by players, although there are exceptions to the rule. They take commodities that are upkeep and every building tick (6 hours) turn it into something else. The efficiency of the buildings increase by each production level they are upgraded, although the change is much less noticeable after level 5, where the main incentive is the extra production. Buildings require 500 AP to build as well as an amount of materials. A magnetic scoop may be used to carry extra resources if your cargo space is too small. The number of buildings you can have is controlled by the amount of experience you have. The requirements for the next one increase tenfold after getting the prior one. Also, some buildings such as military outposts and droid assembly complexes have experience requirements. Experience required for number of buildings: # 100 xp # 1000 xp # 10000 xp # 100000 xp # 1000000 xp # 10000000 xp The offical Pardus manual divides buildings into three categories: Low, Medium and High =Low Level= Fuel Collector "In most areas these buildings are unnecessary, since fuel is nearly everywhere and can be easily obtained with a Fuel Scoop. However, in very heavily settled sectors the excessively high transit causes serious supply shortages of fuel . Without Fuel Collectors in these sectors the whole economic system would collapse at its very base!" - Official Pardus Manual Use these to avoid the harsh (and unnecessary) effects of Strip Mining. If heavy strip mining occurs on fuel tiles in heavy traffic areas then expect prices to rise dramatically as their owners seek to take advantage of the situation. New players should leave the heavy traffic area for greener pastures, in order to prevent an area from becoming overpopulated and unfavourable. Building cost: 15 , 20 Gas Collector "Much like the Fuel Collector, the Gas Collector is only needed in closely colonized sectors. In similar fashion as the Nebula Plant it uses 4 collector nozzles to suck in large quantities of gas , which it then consolidates for compact storage." - Official Pardus Manual Unlike the Fuel collector, Gas collectors are usually either replaced or never placed in favour of Nebula plants, unless the need for Gas far exceeds the output of all the Nebula plants. Building cost: 20 20 Space Farm "Built on an artificial asteroid, animals are raised here from imported animal embryos and slaughtered for food . Almost all of these farms are built to support starbases." - Official Pardus Manual The space farm is most commonly used as a food source for starbases. They however do not produce much water so their biowaste often goes to a recyclotron. It is also used as a food source around areas that are far from the reach of a major food source so it's not needed for traders to bring in food from far away for a small cluster of buildings. Building cost: 15 , 15 , 10 Energy well "These energy sources are not much used as production sites. Recharging shields is their primary function. They are often found on busy trade routes and near neutral zones in contested areas." - Official Pardus Manual An energy well produces energy namely, but is rarely used as a major source of energy despite it's high level of efficiency. The energy produced is incredibly low in comparison of a nebula plant. It needs to be located on energy, making running food, water, and energy to and from it to a planet hard and inconvenient. It does however provide a shield battery for pilots to recharge their shields at a price and for no wait, but the battery has a limited amount of charge which can be increased by upgrading the production. Building cost: 20 , 15 Asteroid mine "In bygone wars huge amounts of these now rusty and age-old constructions sprang up like mushrooms. They are built on asteroids and Rustclaws are used to extract ore from these ancient rocks, rich in crystalline matter and often gem stones." - Official Pardus Manual Asteroid mines use FWE to create ore and gemstones. The ore is needed for smelters to operate, to build many equipment types at starbases, and to build many buildings, making these are essential for economies. Most asteroid fields will have these mines in them, as well as being surrounded by smelters. Running a large scale mining and smelting operation along a huge asteroid field is a very profitable business, as it takes so much to upgrade buildings and build equipment. They will produce ore and metal, then send it to a trading outpost for people to transport where it is needed. Building cost: 15 25 Chemical laboratory "Also built in nebulas, this facility uses complicated chemical processes to break down nebula gas into its rich components and convert it to chemical supplies." - Official Pardus Manual Chemical laboratories (or "chem labs") supply chemical supplies to several buildings. Since so many commodities rely on them, it is incredibly important that these are built or otherwise you will need to do without them or import. They can only be built on nebula gas making it hard for some economies to work if they don't have nebulae near them. Building cost: 25 15 Radiation Collector "In its enormous collection panels, the Radiation Collector gathers high-energy photons and cosmic rays, using them to transmute stable atoms into radioactive isotopes. These are drawn inside and concentrated in Radioactive Cells, which provide a compact and portable source of energy for a variety of applications." - Official Pardus Manual Despite it's status as "Low level" in the official Pardus manual, these buildings are needed mainly for higher level functions. Absolutely essential for advanced building defences, Droid Assembly Complex's, Leech Nursery's and Alliance Command Centers, but very few Radiation collectors are needed to support all of these, even if they were all in the same local area. Building cost: 15 20 5 =Mid Level= Electronics Facility "Here the most important components for the modern space faring are manufactured. They are present in every sector." - Official Pardus Manual Needed for more advanced buildings and the high value products they manufacture. Electronics are needed for anyone who's looking to make serious profits though the products which need them. Building cost: 50 , 35 Medical Laboratory "After centuries of neglect in which populations were decimated by epidemics and uncontrollable viruses, the major galactic races have come to realize the importance of adequate medical care. Using highly developed scientific methods, nebula gas is converted to medicines in these huge laboratories. An impressive feat!" - Official Pardus Manual Building cost: 30 , 30 Brewery "Breweries are cheap and supply planets and bases with various brands of expensive and brain-damaging liquor. No wonder that some sectors are ridden with dozens of these monstrosities." - Official Pardus Manual Building cost: 30 , 25 Plastics Facility "A press made from the strongest titanium, located in the center of this intriguing construction, supplies the pressure needed for the final stages of the heavy plastics production. The building also houses material experts, who produce breakthrough after breakthrough in the field of material sciences." - Official Pardus Manual Building cost: 45 , 30 Recyclotron "Using mechanical separators, organic solvents, and a host of other processes, these foul-smelling plants reclaim and transform bio-waste. The result is potable water and a controversial but nutritious food wafer. Given the source of the food and water consumed by the plant workers, morale tends to be low." - Official Pardus Manual Because of space farms small resource of water, and production of biowaste, recyclotrons are made to supplement the water supply and use the biowaste. Expect to see some of these around any starbase with space farms around. Recyclotrons are the main users of biowaste. Building cost: 30 , 40 Smelting facility "Ore is melted here and refined to high value metal - a process that was used in the times of the earliest ancestors of all races." - Official Pardus Manual Smelting facilities (smelters) use ore from asteroid mines to turn into metal. Their metal production is comparably higher than their ore consumption, so there is usually some ore that doesn't go into the production cycle. This is what's expected, since many buildings and upgrade require ore. Smelters are usually found around asteroid fields with asteroid mines on them. They are also said to be a good source of income to have when high leveled. Building cost: 50 30 =High Level= Nebula plant "This plant collects nebula gas with two giant rotating arms and mixes it with exotic matter under extreme pressure. The resulting reaction produces enormous amounts of energy, much more than could ever be produced from normal matter, even with a 100% conversion rate. Nebula gas is left as a byproduct." - Official Pardus Manual Nebula plants are the biggest suppliers of energy apart from starbases. They use a small amount of food and water with some exotic matter to create a huge amount of energy. This energy is then used to supply buildings or planets. Because it needs E-matter, a supply that can only be gotten from one sector in a cluster, supplying them is sometimes hard unless you venture to the black market and buy it at 1,000 Building cost: 50 50